I am so honored and excited to be part of Milan Design Week 2016, as part of The Alternative, solutions for the social domain, hosted by Dutch magazine, Connecting the Dots, April 11-15:

More and more, designers are shifting their focus from the private to the public domain. Social and ecological issues are interpreted as design briefs from which alternative solutions are developed. Often in small steps that offer solutions to larger problems closer. The aim of the alternative is not only to provide a platform for alternative solutions, but also to present visitors with a world-view seen through the eyes of socially responsible designers.

Andrea Burngueño and I will be presenting our project, Interzone, at Ex Ansaldo in Zona Tortona. Come say hello!

Special thanks to our collaborators who are helping us with this exhibition: Ricardo Dutra, Alex Kahn, Ian Bliss, Akira Wong, and the Transdisciplinary Design family at Parsons.

Download our press release here, and help us spread the word.To follow this project, find us at @PRJ_interzone #whattimeisit and www.projectinterzone.com.

Exciting week in the Transdisciplinary Design studio, working with DESIS Lab, Foosa, Fjord, and MILES to explore service design for financial empowerment. I was on a team with Selim Budeyri, Mei-Ling Lu, Katie Edmonds, and PhD fellow from Finland, Titta Jylkas, to work on a brief about wayfinding. How might we improve the experience of one-on-one financial counseling through a wayfinding lens? We interpreted this brief as not just signage, but how does a person locate themselves within the system of available financial services, and within their own financial empowerment journey?

In just a few days of crash-course immersive research, my team based our idea on a mapping system, that would serve as a symbol, tool, and information system to be used with the financial counselor. We also made small recommendations regarding branding consistency to better locate the person in their journey.

After working as one of three directors for the VergeNYC 2016 team, I'm proud to say that we've pulled off another great year! It's been an amazing learning experience to lead such a great team, and it's an honor to show the transdisciplinary design practice out to the public. We had a great turn out this year, with new and old friends joining the Verge family. Special thanks to all of our partners, advisors, and sponsors who helped us pull it off!

Despite everything, I'm most grateful for my team mates, and allowing me to learn and grow as a leader. Thinking back to my pre-Verge days, I couldn't imagine standing in a room to network, getting up in front of a crowd, or managing and staying positive during peak stress times. I still have a ways to go, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to grow. It's been a 9 month long journey since the last summer when I accepted the Verge 2016 director role and I must say that it's bittersweet to let this go. Meeting collaborators and partners along the way has made all of the stress and anxiety worth it! I'm especially proud to see my colleagues representing our transdisciplinary design practice as Conversation Leaders, pulling off exciting 2-day workshops. Special shout out to my co-directors Ankita Roy and Andrea Burgueno for the countless hours, early and late, that we've spent together. I couldn't have done it without you two. On behalf of the Verge team, thank you to all of those who came and participated.

To last year's Verge team, thank you for your trust and giving me this opportunity. To next year's Verge team, I'm looking forward to being a *participant* next year!

2016 has been an incredible start. As I end my month long journey in Japan, I'm appreciating everything that coming here has taught me. Besides roaming around with fellow friends and colleagues (my Japan project team from TransD) up mountains, in onsens, to contemporary islands, and endless train rides, we got a great opportunity to work with Chiba University students for 2 weeks. As a social designer who tends to stay away from tech-focused work, Japan has a been a challenge that stretched my horizons. The project brief we received in Japan was focused on internet of things and virtual intelligence. And seeing the amount of technology integrated into daily life in Tokyo was mind-blowing. In the end, I've found a new perspective to approach tech-focused work, and found a new curiosity for the internet of things and virtual reality. To see the work we presented for Toshiba and the Chiba University panel, see And You.

As part of our work there, we also collaborated on a week long workshop with Chiba students and Glasgow School of Art students. Again, it was exploring the internet of things, but this time through the lens of food. My group created Haconnecto: a central point to exchange food with other local, small-scale producers in an easy and convenient way. Inspired by the ubiquitous Japanese vending machines found all over the city (and the forests!), we conceptualized an exchange system that stands on a system of points. See some images from our presentation below: